Over the Christmas holiday, Chris and I attended a dinner party over at our friend EW’s house. We decided to bring a bottle of wine and this bread. I know EW is a HUGE bread lover so I thought I’d bake him a loaf. In the past, I have baked him savory breads but he seemed to love beer bread more than others. I’m guessing it’s the dense texture and the crusty top.

I love to change up the flavors of my beer bread and I always follow the same base recipe. Chorizo and manchego is a favorite combination of mine, especially in bread. We nibbled on a couple of slices just to make sure it tasted OK before we brought it over. It was tasty and butter is a must on here!

In a small pan over medium heat add chorizo and olive oil. Cook until fat renders from the chorizo, about 5-7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer chorizo to a plate to cool; set aside. Reserve fat, do not discard.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch loaf pan.

Using a stand or electric mixer (or mix by hand) combine scallions, 4 ounces of Manchego cheese, flour, baking powder, salt and chorizo. Mix well and then slowly stir in beer. Mix until batter is just moistened, batter should be sticky. Do not overmix.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly with a spatula. Scatter the remaining 1 ounce of Manchego cheese on top of the batter, then drizzle in the reserve chorizo fat on top of the cheese (mine rendered about 1 tablespoon). Pour the melted butter on top as well and make sure it’s distributed evenly. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick/tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the bread to cool for 20-25 minutes or until it’s safe to handle for slicing. Best served warm.

My first post of the year. Yes, I’m extremely behind! Chris and I were away for our anniversary and when we got back from our mini-trip, there was so much to do around the house that blogging took a backseat again. Anyway, I hope everyone had a lovely holiday! Can you believe we’re in 2014?! It’ll take some time before I get used to writing 2014 on my checks and signed documents.

I don’t know about you but after all the holiday food indulgence, I am detoxing. Yep, I am! Just for several days until that yucky bloated feeling goes away. Every time when I’m away from home, it’s so hard to eat healthily. I can see why some families vacation with a kitchen in their suite. It’s easier to prepare healthy meals while away, not to mention how much $$$ you save. So I wanted to start the new year with this recipe. Refreshing, healthy, light and delicious! Have a great week everyone.

In a small bowl add avocado and juice of half a lime. Use your fingers to gently toss the avocado with lime juice; set aside.

In a medium bowl combine cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. Season with salt. Then add mint, cilantro, avocado and extra virgin olive oil. Squeeze the remaining half of the lime into the bowl. Toss everything together and transfer to a serving bowl/platter. Top the salad with crumbled feta cheese and freshly cracked pepper before serving.

Today is a special day. It marks my 15-year union with Chris. And I say union because we were together for 11 years before we got married. He’s the most loving, understanding, caring and giving man I know. And I feel so lucky to have him as my partner.

Photo by Lindsey Cahill Photography

Photo by Lindsey Cahill Photography

Like any relationships, we’ve had our shares of ups and downs. But no matter now bad things got, we never gave up on each other.

Photo by Lindsey Cahill Photography

Photo by Lindsey Cahill Photography

He’s my soulmate (I know, corny!), my best friend, my confidante. And I want to celebrate many more anniversaries with him. Love you Chris!

Photo by Lindsey Cahill Photography

Photo by Lindsey Cahill Photography

If you’ve been reading my blog for sometime now, you know I’m a huge fan of crumbs. I have to say, this cake is the crème de la crème of all crumb cakes. Look at how thick and generous the crumbs are.

The flour ratio in the crumb topping is way more than the actual cake! Now that’s some serious crumbs. So if you love crumbs like I do, you’ll love this cake. Have a wonderful New Year everyone and a fantastic 2014. See you next year!

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan with non-stick baking spray. Line it with a sheet of parchment paper leaving a generous overhang for easy removal; set aside.

For the crumb topping: Whisk sugars, ground cinnamon, salt and butter in a medium bowl to combine. Stir in flour with a spatula until mixture resembles thick dough; set aside to cool to room temperature, about 10-15 minutes.

For the cake: Using a stand or electric mixer (or mix by hand) mix flour, sugar, baking soda and salt until combined. While the mixer is still running, add butter one piece at a time until the mixture resembles coarse crumb, with no visible butter chunks remaining. Add egg, yolk, vanilla extract and buttermilk. Beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping the sides if necessary.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly with a spatula. Break apart crumb topping into large pea-sized pieces and spread it into an even layer over the batter, starting with the edges and then work towards the center. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until crumbs are golden and toothpick/tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the crumb cake to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Today is Christmas Eve! I hope everyone has all their Christmas shopping done and presents wrapped. I’m still behind on my gift wrapping. My last few presents came via delivery yesterday so I’ll be wrapping today —yay!

These last few weeks have been brrrrrr… cold! So to combat the coldness, we’ve been having soup. This soup is rich, full of flavor, has a bit of a kick and I mean, you don’t want to feed small children this soup. It’s strictly an adult soup. The title really does say it all. This is best served with some sort of dunker. Bread or a sandwich would complete this meal. Have a merry Christmas everyone!

In a large soup pot over medium high heat brown bacon until slightly crispy. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a plate lined with paper towel; set aside.

Spoon off and discard all the fat, except for 1/2 tablespoon. Return the pot to medium heat and add onion, celery, carrot, jalapeno peppers and garlic. Cook until vegetables soften, about 5-7 minutes. Add butter and continue to cook the vegetables alongside with the butter so they don’t burn. Once the butter has melted, add flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. Slowly stir in chicken broth and turkey broth, making sure there are no lumps. While stirring, make sure to scrape up the bottom of the pot with your spoon to get all the bacon bits on the bottom. Allow soup mixture to simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in ale, and simmer for another 10 minutes. Add heavy cream, Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Then return bacon into the soup pot and stir to combine. Add sharp cheddar cheese and pepper jack cheese to the pot and stir until all the cheese is completely melted. Season the soup with freshly cracked pepper (I didn’t find salt necessary here because the bacon and cheese gave it plenty of flavor). Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with chopped parsley.

I love baking this time of the year. There are a lot of seasonal items during the Christmas holidays that you don’t see year-round. Gingerbread Twix is one of them. So if I’m bombarding you with all these sweets, my apologies!

I made a big batch of these to share with the neighbors this holiday season. One bite and I was thinking I should keep them for ourselves. Haha! It was hard, but I packaged them and gave them away. While shooting this, I helped myself to a couple of pieces. It was hard to stop at one. Then after dinner, I had another. I know, I can’t help it. They’re THAT good. The end (have a great weekend, by the way!).

Using a stand or electric mixer (or mix by hand) mix together sugars, butter and vanilla extract until combined. Add eggs and continue to mix. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just moistened. Batter will be thick. Fold in chopped gingerbread Twix.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly with a spatula. If using white chocolate chips, sprinkle on top of the batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until edges turn golden brown and toothpick/tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the blondies to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Christmas is a week from now and wow, it sure sneaks up on you quickly. Is it me or do you notice how quickly 2013 is going by? When I had a full-time office job, the year never passed this quickly. Now that I’m a homemaker/blogger, the days go by in a blink of an eye. Anyway, I hope everyone has gotten their Christmas shopping done.

Dark chocolate peanut butter and holiday chip brownie bites. Whew, it’s a mouthful to say! These cute little brownie bites are so dense, chocolatey and delicious. Milk is a requirement when eating these little gems. When Chris and I sampled these, we couldn’t stop eating them. We had to restrain ourselves from eating the entire batch. Haha! If you love dark chocolate AND peanut butter, you’ll love these babies. Happy Wednesday!

3/4 cup of holiday chips + extra to sprinkle on top (I used Nestle Tollhouse brand)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line baking cups in the muffin pan (I used 2 12-cup muffin pan and a 6-cup muffin pan).

Using a stand or electric mixer (or mix by hand) mix together peanut butter, eggs and vanilla extract until smooth. Then add flour and salt and mix until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Fold in holiday chips.

Using a 1-1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop, spoon batter into each baking cup (about 1/3 full). Sprinkle extra holiday chips on top. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the tester/toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool slightly in the pan before transferring them to the cooling rack.

We are big eggnog people here. Drinking it straight with some brandy, not so much. But we use it for everything else, especially in our morning lattes. I personally love to bake with eggnog and Chris loves to eat it. We eggnog.

I got my hands on some cinnamon chips this year. Have you tried it? It’s incredible! It’s so fragrant and pronounce that you don’t need to add cinnamon to your recipe. And so I decided to throw some in with this batter along with spiced rum, for good health. Trust me, you’ll fall in love with this loaf! Cinnamon chips are common around this time of the year in the baking aisle. If you can’t find it, Amazon is a great resource. King Arthur Flour is also a good resource too for all things chips. Here’s to some eggnog rum bread with some cinnamon chips. YUM! Have a great week lovelies!

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt; set aside.

Using a stand or electric mixer (or mix by hand) mix together sugar, butter, egg, spiced rum and eggnog. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. Fold in 3/4 cup of cinnamon chips.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cinnamon chips on top. Bake for 52-57 minutes or until toothpick/tester inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs attached. Let the bread cool completely before cutting into the pan.